The Innocent Have To Suffer

The Innocent Have To Suffer!

July is a wet month, but today not only was it wet, it was unusually cold as well. I was not drenched but there was a heaviness in the air that made me feel as if I had just walked out of a shower. It was about half past nine in the evening when I wiped my shoes at the entrance of the pub and entered inside. It was dimly lit, overflowing with people and noisy. It was a surprise that so many people had gathered there despite all the negative news flowing in the media.

I glanced around the room and found the person I wanted. He was sitting at his usual place on one of those tall chairs at the counter. He always used to sit somewhere near the corner. I moved across the room and settled on a tall stool next to him on his left. He was in his late forties and medium height.

The media was full of news about this psychotic killer who was killing women and making away with their heads. With five headless corpses found in as many months, the public at large were restless and there was immense pressure on police to solve the cases. Every criminal thinks that he is very smart. But there is no such thing as a perfect crime. I had been tailing this man for the past two weeks and he seemed to fit the image that I had in mind. I knew he was the guy I was looking for.

Two weeks ago, on my usual nightly stroll, I had found this man slowly emerging out of the shadows in a garden. It was just past mid night. The time and his demeanor instinctively aroused my suspicions and I started tailing him. I followed him till his home and waited for the lights in his house to go off before returning to the garden. But I didn’t find anything unusual there. Nevertheless, his actions had aroused my curiosity and I decided to follow him.

I tailed him for the next two weeks. He lived alone and did not seem to have any friends. He dressed like any normal person and did not have the "look" of a criminal. At first glance he could be easily lost in the crowd as just another middle aged man. He frequently visited this pub and left it late at night to get back home. On some days, he used to spend entire evenings in the pub and always walked back to his home. He also had called women (probably prostitutes) at his home on some nights. He always had a small black colored bag with him … something like a small duffle bag. He matched the description that was available in reports.

His home was a small three-room bungalow which was separated from the other houses of that colony. The house seemed normal like any middle class house. There was an entrance gate to the colony, but it wasn’t a gated community and there wasn’t any watchman as well. I guess that’s why his activities were unknown to others.

I was curious and on one occasion at the pub, I had tried to open his bag and surreptitiously peered inside. But there was nothing incriminating. Just a tiffin, a newspaper folded neatly and a jacket. That was all. No weapons. Nevertheless, I continued to follow him.

In the past two weeks I had gathered a lot of information about him and everything that I learnt, convinced me that this was the guy I wanted.

As I neared the end of my drink, I moved my right hand over my jacket pocket. The familiar feel of the gun ensconced inside the pocket was comforting. I glanced around as I finished my drink. Everyone was busy in their own world. Bending slightly towards my right, I lifted his bag just enough with my right hand and moved it towards me. At the same time using my right leg, I pushed my bag towards him. I had painfully taken the efforts to search the markets to get a bag… an exact replica of the bag that he had.

I gulped what was remaining in my glass, put the money on the counter, lifted my bag (his bag actually!) and walked out of the pub. The rubber hand-gloves and heavy glasses I was wearing ensured that my identity was fairly hidden. On my way out, I had a difficult time suppressing a chuckle on how his reaction would be when he finds the head of my latest victim in his bag!

But then, that’s the way the world is … The innocent will have to suffer….